COMING SOON: 2021 SUPERCARS CALENDAR

Coming Soon: 2021 Supercars Calendar – Photo: InSyde Media

Supercars’ 2021 calendar is all but finalised, just awaiting the official sign-off by some key stakeholders.

By MARK FOGARTY

Next year’s schedule was due to be announced on Wednesday, but last-minute hitches have delayed the reveal until early in the coming week.

What we know is that the series will start at Mount Panorama in late February and is due to finish at Surfers Paradise in late November.

The timetable in between is subject to many uncertainties.

The ’21 schedule to be released next week will be highly provisional, depending on open national and state borders.

Confirmation of the post-COVID calendar is waiting on approval by constituents who are understood to be going through “internal changes” in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

It is unclear which events are causing the hold up, although there seems to be an issue with South Australia’s inclusion.

The shock cancellation of the Adelaide 500, scheduled to move from season-opener to the final round next year, was an unexpected curveball.

Until then, Supercars had settled on a 12-event series – down from the pre-COVID plan for 14 this year – to cut costs for teams while satisfying the requirements of the new Fox Sports/Seven broadcasting deal.

Despite friction with the SA government over the Adelaide 500’s axing, a state-supported round at The Bend is back on the agenda.

It means the series will expand to 13 rounds or either Winton or Sandown could be dropped.

However, the return of the Gold Coast 600 may not be a lock as the Queensland government reviews expenditure following the huge cost of the pandemic.

The crisis also claimed the Newcastle 500, which is not due to return – if ever – until 2022. If it survives, it will come back as the season-opener.

The NSW government has only committed to continuing backing of events at Bathurst and Sydney Motor Sport Park.

Next year’s Supercars calendar is set to have a mostly ‘traditional’ look, with most rounds resuming their recent slots.

The current plan is for a mix of SuperSprint (3 x 110 km), Super500 (2 x 250 km), International Super400 (4 x 100 km) and Bathurst 1000.

The October Bathurst enduro is set to again be the only two-driver race as a cost-saving measure for the teams.

The season-opener at Mount Panorama will be a pair of single-driver 250 km races.

Events will be a mixture of two to four days, with the latter for big events. Regular events will be the normal three days or two days, which worked under COVID restrictions this year.

We could speculate about the calendar order and dates, but the only fixed points are Bathurst 1, February 27-28, AGP March 18-21 and NZ April 10-11 and Bathurst 2 October 7-10.

If it happens, the series will finish with the revived Gold Coast street race event – possibly, but unlikely, under lights

We also know the Sydney Motor Sport Park SuperNight is back, with a return under lights at Wanneroo also likely. Darwin and Townsville are also locked in.

The pre-season test day is scheduled for SMP on the weekend of February 13-14 – although Feb 20-21 on the way to Bathurst would make more sense logistically and cost-wise.

All this is informed conjecture – we’ll know the provisional 2021 Supercars calendar early next week.

What we do know for sure is where it will be seen.

For the next five years, Supercars will be shown on Fox Sports and Seven.

All rounds will be live on Fox Sports, requiring a Foxtel subscription, and marquee events – including the Bathurst 1000 – will be free on the Seven Network.

Seven’s coverage will include delayed highlights of the regular rounds on its free-to-air channels and 7Plus streaming service.

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